Ashas IGP Adventures

Lovely pics!! You should be proud!!! And bless that doodle owner for being a straight up UNICORN! Good for them.
You bet I'm proud. I know it wasn't as pretty as it could have been, but I was soooo happy. The doodle is a good dog, I'll have to ask what it actually is, but not a very drivey dog. But proud of that team too - we all get a different set of problems with each dog, don't we?! That's where that saying "you gotta train the dog in front of you" came from. In training, her pup would lag 2 or 3 feet behind, mine would be leaning on the leash in front. But we both got the training done and were much improved on the day that mattered!
love when they do that. They definitely don’t have a short attention span for that!
Right? She could stare a hole in the wall. The rules say the dog does not have to remain in a sit/down/stand, just not lunge on the tie-back or bark at the dog that's walked by. (while dogs are tied and handlers out of sight a person walks a neutral dog past them to assure that the dog doing the test is not aggressive toward them when left alone)
 
Last weekend traveled to the club for helper/decoy day. First time to see a helper since last summer. She did great her first session, then our second go, he put a little pressure with staring and body language. She got a little uneasy, kept barking at his face but refused to engage with the puppy sleeve, but did stay on the platform in front of the blind. He did back off and go back to play mode and tossed the sleeve on the ground where she grabbed it and did her victory lap. Always end on a good note! @Doberman Gang - I'm thinking too soon to add pressure? I'm not liking how she changed when he challenged her with staring. This is maybe the 5th time in her life she's worked with a helper.

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Last weekend traveled to the club for helper/decoy day. First time to see a helper since last summer. She did great her first session, then our second go, he put a little pressure with staring and body language. She got a little uneasy, kept barking at his face but refused to engage with the puppy sleeve, but did stay on the platform in front of the blind. He did back off and go back to play mode and tossed the sleeve on the ground where she grabbed it and did her victory lap. Always end on a good note! @Doberman Gang - I'm thinking too soon to add pressure? I'm not liking how she changed when he challenged her with staring. This is maybe the 5th time in her life she's worked with a helper.

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Not sure without seeing what she was doing. I always introduce pressure on the open field at a distance. Or on a table with the helper coming out from behind the blind. When the helper turns and faces the dog, showing some form of pressure, if the dog barks the helper must show fear turn and run back into the blind. This will empower the dog and build confidence. If the dog is on a harness and long line in the center of the field, when they helper steps out of the blind and turns with a threat towards the dog. (15-20 yards away) each time the dog barks, the handler will allow enough slack in the leash fir the dog to move one step closer. Each time the helper will act scared and run back into the blind. The fig determines the distance as he or she gets more confident. Eventually following the helper back into the blind, at this point staring pressure is no longer an issue the dog has been empowered by always scaring the helper away and back into the blind.
 
Not sure without seeing what she was doing. I always introduce pressure on the open field at a distance. Or on a table with the helper coming out from behind the blind. When the helper turns and faces the dog, showing some form of pressure, if the dog barks the helper must show fear turn and run back into the blind. This will empower the dog and build confidence. If the dog is on a harness and long line in the center of the field, when they helper steps out of the blind and turns with a threat towards the dog. (15-20 yards away) each time the dog barks, the handler will allow enough slack in the leash fir the dog to move one step closer. Each time the helper will act scared and run back into the blind. The fig determines the distance as he or she gets more confident. Eventually following the helper back into the blind, at this point staring pressure is no longer an issue the dog has been empowered by always scaring the helper away and back into the blind.
Yes, that was my understanding. He did some dashing back behind the blind, but not running away. Asha never backed off and barked forwardly the whole time, but then when she was in front of him at the blind she wouldn't bite the sleeve, just kept barking. His plan was to slip the sleeve the first bite and let her win, but she just bit it one time and let go so she could continue barking. (My thought is she self-rewards by barking and the bite is not as rewarding?) She did glance back at me a couple of times while all this is going on - confused as to how to handle this? - So he left the blind and she followed, still barking (she's in a harness and I had a long line), he traded the sleeve for a smaller bite pillow on a leash and she went after that when he dragged it on the ground, but when he pulled it back up to his hands she didn't want it, just barked at him. At one time she did a play bow, so I know she wasn't very stressed, but it was weird how she decided she didn't want the bite anymore. He got the sleeve again and tossed it on the ground and she went after it with gusto, I let her do a little victory lap with it and brought her around to him and he squatted down on her level to tug a bit with her. She was OK with that, and we did that a couple of times & let her keep the sleeve every time and do the victory laps. My main concern is I've heard how easy it is to mess dogs up with mixed signals of what to do. What I'm hoping is that she was just confused about the change with him staring and will "get it". The guy is good natured, there's lot's of non-bitey dogs in the club that he works with for fun - doodles and Aussies etc. so he knows not to push too hard. Asha presented as really confident and no backing off in her 1st session that morning and I'm thinking he just thought she would roll with it. He said he'd never had one that would bite so well, then choose to bark over biting. :scratch:

I remember way back in the early '90's with my first Doberman puppy, I took her to a club where my puppy's sire was doing SchH - I didn't live there, just visited and wanted to show them how she'd grown up - about 8 months old. They let me tie her to the fence for puppy circle time - a straight line of puppies tied back and handler stood behind them while the helper went back and forth with the rag on a rope to get the pups excited. When my pup got the rag and was shaking it he let go and she immediately dropped it and went back to lunging and barking at him. He laughed and said that was a good one, wanting the person not the rag. It was my only experience at a club and 30 years ago. Funny how Asha more or less did the same thing.
 
I arranged to meet the helper at a field near his house yesterday to just have a fun session that wasn't at the club. A freaking long day to drive 3.5 hours to the club, work on obedience & RH (SAR trial in Feb.) Then on the way home stopped for protection training. More training for my driving dollar. As usual, Asha had a blast. She has never in her life been exposed to a whip crack and she didn't even blink. I can count on my two hands how many times she's been exposed to a helper in her 3 years. I can't imagine how she would have come along in this if I'd had a club to visit weekly for the last two years.

 
Wow those are awesome barks ! You definitely have a dog with no hesitation good for you congratulations!
Haven't seen you post for a while - how's training going? I'd love to see more IGP conversation around here!
... and thank you for the compliment. I have no one around to compare to or tell me it's outstanding or normal or meh.
 
Thanks - I was one who really didn't realize how hard it would be. We still have tons of work to do in obedience. She's not wrapping in front as bad, but still wants be ahead of me and I've got to tighten the about turn. I have given up on the leaking unless you have a suggestion on that. She whines almost constantly in the long down (but doesn't move) and now a NEW thing, one or two sharp barks when I do the sit or down walking off leaving her. "Back-talk" I call it. Unless I win the lottery, I'll probably just hang at club level and have fun. I'll try to land a BH with a DVG trial so we get credit with UDC, but the closest one that might happen will be at least 8 hours away. All the club trials near me (3 -4 hours) are USCA.
That’s amazing, the level of coexistence you have built with Asha. I’d love to joint a club like that in my area as I wholeheartedly believe this should be a norm across all dog owners. Not competition level but willingness to improve their handling skills as well as the bonds with their K9 companions. Again, congratulations!
 
Finally got some BH photos! And yes, that's a Doodle that she was paired with & also got her BH.

About to start off-leash routine:
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Front after recall, not bad! She landed crooked, but self-corrected to only slightly crooked:
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After traffic test, tied back while I go out of sight. She just stared at where I disappeared and didn't move.
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Then she saw me re-appear & smiled!
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Such a good girl!
 
Not sure without seeing what she was doing. I always introduce pressure on the open field at a distance. Or on a table with the helper coming out from behind the blind. When the helper turns and faces the dog, showing some form of pressure, if the dog barks the helper must show fear turn and run back into the blind. This will empower the dog and build confidence. If the dog is on a harness and long line in the center of the field, when they helper steps out of the blind and turns with a threat towards the dog. (15-20 yards away) each time the dog barks, the handler will allow enough slack in the leash fir the dog to move one step closer. Each time the helper will act scared and run back into the blind. The fig determines the distance as he or she gets more confident. Eventually following the helper back into the blind, at this point staring pressure is no longer an issue the dog has been empowered by always scaring the helper away and back into the blind.

Also, the handler should tell the dog (when they bark) yayaya good boy/girl and sometimes be close behind the dog and tap them on their side.
I see some owner/handlers not say anything.
 
Also, the handler should tell the dog (when they bark) yayaya good boy/girl and sometimes be close behind the dog and tap them on their side.
I see some owner/handlers not say anything.
I was tending not to say anything much. They asked me if I had a word/command to bark and I said no, she always barked without me asking or telling her to. Then they went on to say that the command Revere to the blind sort of means "go search & bark". These are the little things that I don't have a clue about without having regular club training!
 
Another repeat of the last time: Worked on Obedience & SAR training at the club - they are having a SAR RH trial in Feb that I will be entering so I've been trying to attend more. Asha was as good as she's ever been, really confident in our dexterity work and her search was over the top for "work ethic and speed". I was so proud of her!

The guy who does helper work for the club every other week lives about an hour away, but it's on my way home, so again, we met at a park at his town & did protection work. Nobody to take pictures/videos, but again, Asha was better & more confident than ever. He did a few "tests" on her nerve, and did say if she was a puppy he would not do these things as quickly, but she's 3 years old and confident. He put pressure on her when she had the pillow, bending over her locking her head between his legs and arms for short periods and pressured harder with the whip - she never backed down. He did a run away where I turned her loose, then he turned and faced her holding the stick over his head facing her - she hesitated (slowed her run-down) a second, so he dropped the pressure and then she took the bite. Then we re-did with the run-down without facing her or threatening and she re-gained her confidence 100%. He explained that he wanted to see by these tests how hard to push her and any lack of confidence he would re-do the same thing without pressure to build her back up and end with her winning big. We also worked on obedience making her sit at heel and look at me while he was in the blind, lots of outs and downs. She does continue to bark even in a down though... I think it's the right idea and she absolutely loved all of it. And so did I. One of the best training days we've ever had.

Any input is always welcome!
 
Asha is such a Renaissance girl! I love how she seems so willing to just try anything and doesn't even hesitate! To have a whip cracking and totally ignore it l then turnaround and do SAR training, which is such a different discipline, is epic!
 
So I got this sleeve... LOL. Decided I would figure out how to get a little bit of the pattern practice in at home. I've heard mixed reviews on being your dogs own helper, but I think with no pressure, just playing the games should just teach her the way the exercises work. @Doberman Gang and @strykerdobe - tell me if you think this is a bad idea or if you have any ideas of how to make anything better.

I was super pleased with the Hold & Bark, as this is only the 3rd time I tried it from a down - the first couple of times (a week ago) she tried to nip the sleeve when she came up, but both times today didn't touch it. You can't tell from the camera angle, but the tree blocked her view of me, so it was "kinda like" a blind.



This next one mimics the "escape". I went very slow and just let her have the sleeve off my arm. I'm not even dreaming about trying to catch her or even hang on. I'm not that strong. So all the work I'll be doing will be instant reward with the sleeve.

 

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